Opener Thoughts? Utah Rifle

Well I don't have a tag, but a brother and my Dad did. We went out Opening Day, all day. Hiked quite a bit, saw lots of hunters and several deer especially at first light. We were in the Pine Valley Unit (30). The changes seemed to have little to no affect in the area we were hunting. Seemed to be about the same numbers of hunters, which was a lot. :)

I saw a big 2-point, a 3-point, a really big 2-point. And 1-2 other bucks from a distance that were small to medium size. Probably saw 40 I would guess, maybe a tad more.

Deer seemed to be lower than higher, for the most part.

Found a cool/goofy shed and small 2-point skull.

And my big 2 point that ran right to me (brother sacred it my way). Saw one about twice this size later in morning.
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MuleyMadness
Big 2-point clip - Would you shoot him. :)

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jarvis243
I have heard a lot of the same reports from people on the pine valley unit. People just are not seeing that many deer in general. I went out on the opener and wasn't disappointed but then again the places that i hunt you usually don't see a lot of deer anyway. I think it is going to take some time for these changes to really make a difference if they do make a difference at all. I didn't hear a single shot saturday night were i was at. I hunted pretty low that night. I was pretty shocked and kind of worried.

As far as your video, in the pine valley unit during the rifle hunt yeah i probably would have taken the shot. The last 3 yrs my dad and i have watched a big 2 that was about 27 wide and big deep tines. I had a chance or two at him during the archery seasons but always held off thinking that i would take him during the muzzleloader but he always seemed to disappear right before it opened. He didn't show up this year.
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JDavid
I had a box elder archery tag and seen lots of deer and not one hunter. My mother has a box elder rifle tag we went to my little honey hole where I normally dont see another soul. There were 3 groups of hunters out there. So the changes made, have affected the box elder unit in my opion. My buddy hunted grouse creek area and he said it crawled with hunters but everyone they ran into had deer in their truck or the camp.
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johnyutah5
The opener was interesting for us. My son and I were in the exact same area as last year and only saw about 1/4 of what we had seen the year before. The buck and doe numbers were way down in the area. The deer were in the area during scouting trips but have vacated for some reason. There were only a handful of hunters in the area and I only heard one shot from but don't know if they got anything. Felt pretty lucky to find something for my son to go after.
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Default Avatar
WE hunted with half the state low on utah hill, in the pine valley unit. saw plenty of does and fawns, and a few small bucks tat got pushed aruond enuf until they ran into the hunters that decided because it had antlers it was big enuf :-k . I'm sure the meat tastes good =D> we'l give it another shot this weekend [-o<
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Default Avatar
Oh! the buck in the video is twice the size of the little ones I saw. Standing braod side that close I probly would have shot!
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Shedfreak88
From what I noticed in the area we were hunting the number of hunters went up from previous years (most didnt know where they were going or what they were doing and would always stop us and ask) Deer numbers are worse this year then i've ever seen had my dad has seen. I saw 5 does and 3 fawns the day before the hunt. My old man and his buddy have yet to see a deer...If I didnt know any better i'd say we were hunting in utah.
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